Quotations of the day

"Our diplomats are just that, diplomats. They collect information that shapes our policies and actions. This is what diplomats, from our country and other countries, have done for hundreds of years." - State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who downplayed the diplomatic spying allegations in classified documents published by online whistleblower WikiLeaks on Sunday.

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"We would always be outside playing in the street together. It's really scary to think about ... I talked to him, went to school with him, now he's trying to blow up the Square - it's like a reality check I guess." - Tyler Napier, 17, who lived next door to the family of Mohamed Osman Mohamud for three years, to Portland, Ore., TV station KGW. Mohamud is accused of trying to blow up a van full of explosives during the city's Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Friday.

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"I've finally found my home - as Lt. Frank Drebin." - Leslie Nielsen, in a 1988 interview with The Associated Press, lashing back at critics who argued that he was being cast against type after an earlier career as a dramatic actor. Nielsen, who died Sunday at age 84, was referencing his roll as the bumbling detective in "The Naked Gun" comedies.